MG NATIONAL RALLY
The MG Car Club of Auckland recently hosted the Auckland – Taupō - Napier National Rally to celebrate 100 years of MG. There were 86 cars entered, ranging from the ‘30s right through to present-day models produced under the Chinese SAIC banner. As event sponsor, MG Motor New Zealand provided three new MG4s as support vehicles and I was fortunate to be provided with one of these and can say that although current day MGs are vastly different to the classic models of yesteryear, I still got a sense of nostalgia sitting behind the wheel of the new car.
The opening Gala Day at The Cloud on Auckland’s Queens Wharf was an impressive display with the various models lined up by year alongside the building. To the rear were the various race cars, which included the ‘Cream Cracker’ owned by Grant Kern (as featured in NZ Classic Driver Jan/Feb 2021), a TD restored to evoke the MG TA Cream Cracker trials cars that were built in the late ‘30s. He won the 2022 Roycroft Trophy in this car, and as Grant says, “It’s a little bit different to other cars on the racetrack, but can out-corner and out-brake a lot of the more modern cars”.
There were also several cars from the Walbran stables (aka Paul Walbran Motors) including a MG Midget as well as several impressive race cars. That evening a casual platter dinner was enjoyed, with guest speaker Andy Kitson speaking of his years when he was the head of Chassis Development at MG Rover, later SAIC UK, for over 30 years.
The oldest car on display was Pat and Lynette’s 1931 M Type. The car has been in Pat’s family for 69 years and was imported into the country in 1937. There had been 17 New Zealand owners before Pat’s father, Frank Widdup, purchased it with ambitions to turn it into a bench racer. He disposed of the body and kept the chassis, engine, diff and a few other items. However, the car remained in this state until 2001 when Pat went about restoring it, using his coach building skills to restore the car as a tribute to his dad. Another car steeped in history was Greeta Hulme’s 1955 MG TF1500. It was purchased new by the late Denny Hulme. He sold it in 1958 before re-purchasing it 20 years later. When Denny owned the car he widened the rims and changed to 15-inch tyres as “he felt that everything was undershod”. It had a major restoration in 1986 by Rod Brayshaw to bring it back to its original look. Vice President of the MG Club Derek Liefting’s own MG TC was another of the many cars with an interesting past – before
arriving in New Zealand in 1953 it was believed to have raced in Ireland’s Tourist Trophy races as well as at Goodwood. In New Zealand it had raced against Bruce McLaren in his Cooper-Climax as well as Denny Hulme. The MG has since been converted back to its original form with a newer engine. Liefting won second place in the People’s Choice Award at The Cloud.
On Monday the group visited Puhoi, a small township north of Auckland for lunch, while Tuesday consisted of a leisurely drive down to Taupō where several of the cars participated in a timed Track Day on Wednesday, utilising the shortened section of Taupō’s circuit. The cars did up to five runs, and then an average time was taken for each. Unsurprisingly in the men’s category it was Andrew Walbran in the MG Midget that took top honours. Four seconds behind him was Barry Hare in an MGF while third place went to Andy Kitson. He was driving a ZS180. The ladies class was won by Jennie Dingley who was sharing Andrew’s MG Midget, while
Helen Swales’ MG TF was second. Rounding out the top three women was Julie Kitson in the ZS180. The Midget which Andrew and Jennie were driving is a past winner of the NZ National Motorkhana and Clubsport Championship as well as winning the UK’s MGCC UK California Cup twice – the first overseas competitor and first family to do so. The car has had a lot of work done to it over the years. The engine is a Rover K-series with an Eaton M45 supercharger which, as Andrew says, is too small for the engine but is all that physically fits.
The remaining days of the rally were spent in Napier where the group visited vineyards and held a static display to allow the public to admire 100 years of MG’s engineering excellence. The final day started off with a motorkhana and an autocross at Hawkes Bay Car Club before the art decothemed finale dinner and prizegiving held at the Napier War Memorial Centre.
Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable and wellorganised event.